Before you proceed with the next business, Sir, may I direct your attention to the fact that Question Time is the only time at which Members of the House can elicit information? I want to direct attention to the fact that a Parliamentary Secretary replying to a question addressed to him by Deputy O'Leary said: "I refuse to reply." If Deputies are to be met with arrogance of that kind in the House the questions on the Order Paper will not be finished until Tibb's Eve. What steps does the Chair propose to take to make the democratic rights of Deputies effective?

The Deputy may not preach a sermon to the Chair.

Would the Chair preach a sermon to the Parliamentary Secretary?

I do not want any sermons at all.

I want to express——

The Deputy has expressed it sufficiently and I should like to express the view that if Deputies sat down and allowed questions to continue all Deputies would be satisfied.

As a western Deputy, I wished to get in a supplementary question on Deputy McLaughlin's question and the Chair refused to allow me to do so. In the west drainage is a serious problem at present and the protests will be considerable in the near future. I can assure the Parliamentary Secretary and his Party that this will not be tolerated in the west in the future.

I obeyed the Chair.

(Cavan): On a point of order, I should like to point out——

Is this a point of order?

(Cavan): I think so. I should like to point out that the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Finance deliberately refused to give information——

That is not a matter for the Chair. The Chair can do nothing about that.

(Cavan): The House should be able to do something about it. He began to answer the question when he knew he could not be heard and he ended up by refusing to answer.

I obeyed the Chair.

The Parliamentary Secretary was so eager to answer his question that he interrupted the previous supplementary question to the Minister for Finance and then he refused to answer a supplementary question. If the Parliamentary Secretary refused to answer supplementary questions of a rural kind—the question concerned Sligo—I think it shows the bias of the Parliamentary Secretary. I do not know if he would show similar callousness in regard to a supplementary concerning a Dublin constituency matter.

May I submit that the bias of Deputies is clearly displayed when the Parliamentary Secretary is criticised for obeying the Chair? That demonstrates a great deal about this House.

Perhaps it would shorten the discussion if I point out that unfortunately the Parliamentary Secretary was entitled to refuse to answer a question and that therefore we should take steps to remove that disability, if we can, through the Committee on Procedures and Privileges. As the law stands he is entitled to do what he did.

Not only entitled but obliged.

Not obliged; he refused before the Chair intervened at all.

Is it possible for Deputy O'Leary to have this matter referred to an appropriate committee so that the House——

That is not a matter for the Chair. It is a matter for Deputies who can proceed through their representatives on the committee.

To whom can Deputy O'Leary complain if not to the Chair?

He can complain to me.

There is no point in complaining to the Parliamentary Secretary who refuses to answer the question. Surely the House is entitled to guidance from the Chair on matters of that kind?

The Chair has informed the Deputy that it is not his responsibility. The Deputy may proceed through the Deputies on this committee. It is a matter for his own colleagues on the committee.

But it is a matter for the House in general——

We could argue this all the afternoon. I am just telling the Deputy what to do.

On a point of order, can the Ceann Comhairle take it from Deputies that we are not going to put up with arrogance from Ministers or Parliamentary Secretaries who refuse to answer questions and the sooner serious attention is directed to that the better? We put down questions for information and we shall not stand for treatment of this kind which is wrong.

The Parliamentary Secretary obeyed the Chair.